Chapter 320: Hongniang

His voice carried emotions difficult to name.

Wei Chu looked troubled. "Your Highness, I'm afraid this won't be easy. Prince Yu's side certainly won't reveal anything. We don't dare question Bu Xun either. If we do, he may think Your Highness is having him watched, and that would be harmful to you. As for the people who accompanied them, they belong to the three sects. Your Highness knows what people from those three sects are like. They aren't people we can casually question."

Hao Qi said gloomily, "Then find the other party involved. Ask Niu Youdao."

Wei Chu hesitated. "We don't know the circumstances. Would it be appropriate to approach him rashly? What if he immediately reports it to Bu Xun?"

Hao Qi lifted his head slightly and looked at him. "If you can't even handle something this small, what use are you to me? Aren't Daqiu Sect, Xuanbing Sect, and Tianhuo Sect enough to protect my safety? Think of a way yourself!"

Wei Chu looked embarrassed by the rebuke but could only accept the order obediently. "Yes! Your Highness should rest. I'll go think of a way immediately."

He cupped his hands and turned to leave. Just as he reached the doorway, Hao Qi's muffled voice came again from behind him.

"If necessary, you can ask Niu Youdao whether he intends to make an enemy of me."

At dawn, the entire capital slowly awakened. Cooking smoke rose everywhere. Housewives busied themselves in house after house, and merchants, porters, and laborers gradually filled the streets. A new day had begun.

With his broad sleeves swaying, Linghu Qiu walked toward Niu Youdao's room, intending to ask what he planned to do today. Hongfu hurried over and stopped him.

"Sir, Hongniang has come to visit. She asks to see you."

"Hongniang?" Linghu Qiu froze.

Hongniang was something of a famous figure among the cultivators of the Qi capital. Hongniang was only a nickname. Her real name was Guan Fangyi. Like Linghu Qiu, she was a broker. Because she made a habit of bringing people together and arranging deals, everyone called her Hongniang. Though both were brokers, there was some difference between them. Linghu Qiu wandered across all beneath Heaven. Guan Fangyi had essentially made the Qi capital her home base.

She had spent many years mixing among the people here and excelled at cultivating relationships. She knew people from virtually every faction in the capital. This was a secular capital and naturally followed secular rules.

It could not openly trade cultivation resources the way Star-Plucking City did. If it did, the entire place would descend into chaos. Nor could cultivators passing through the capital carry enormous quantities of cultivation resources on their persons. When they suddenly needed something, they could go to Guan Fangyi. When they had something they wanted to sell, they could go to her as well.

She could always help a buyer find the right seller or a seller find the right buyer, taking a commission for bringing the two sides together. After many years in the capital, she had built a strong reputation. That was enough to let her live extremely well. And her line of business was not something anyone could simply declare himself open for and begin doing. The crucial things were the network of contacts and the reputation she had accumulated over many years.

Those made her almost irreplaceable. She effectively held a near-monopoly on commissions from the buying and selling needs of cultivators passing through the Qi capital. How could she not live comfortably? Linghu Qiu had spent time operating here before. He was himself a famous broker, and the two worked in the same trade. How could he not know Guan Fangyi of the Qi capital?

"Are you certain she came for me?" Linghu Qiu lifted his chin toward Niu Youdao's tightly closed door. "Not him?"

These days, everyone who came calling had been looking for Niu Youdao. There had been almost nothing for Linghu Qiu.

He increasingly felt as though the three of them, master and maids alike, existed only to run errands for Niu Youdao.

Hongfu said coldly, "She's here for you. She asked for you by name."

She always wore that cold expression, utterly unlike her smiling elder sister.

"What does that woman want with me? Does she have something I was looking to buy? I don't remember needing anything at the moment." Linghu Qiu shook his head in bafflement but turned to go all the same.

Guan Fangyi was something of a local power here. Now that she had personally come to his door, he had to give her at least some face. A carriage was waiting outside the main gate.

Linghu Qiu and Hongfu emerged, and Hongfu lifted her chin toward the carriage to indicate that the visitor was inside. The curtain over the carriage window was drawn aside. A beautiful mature woman appeared at the opening. She smiled like a flower in bloom and beckoned to Linghu Qiu, signaling for him to board. Her manner was intimate and naturally put people at ease. Linghu Qiu had wandered outside for many years. How could he be deceived by this woman's appearance?

A trace of vigilance rose inside him. He walked to the carriage, lifted the main curtain, and looked inside. Only the richly dressed Guan Fangyi sat within. There was no one else. Only then did he relax slightly. Still, he did not board.

He released the main curtain, walked back to the small window, lifted its curtain, and asked inside, "What's the matter?"

Smack!

Guan Fangyi playfully slapped the back of his hand.

"Get in and we'll talk. What, are you afraid I'll eat you?"

"I have things to do. I don't have time to flirt with you. Tell me what this is about first."

"Someone wants to see you."

Linghu Qiu grew suspicious. "Who?"

"It isn't convenient to say yet. Once you meet, you'll naturally know. I personally came all this way to pick you up. Surely you won't deny me even this little bit of face?"

"It's not that I refuse you face. If someone wants to see me, he can come here directly. Word that I'm staying here has probably spread everywhere by now. Am I difficult to find? Why bother making a detour through you?"

"Are you stupid? If it isn't convenient for the person to meet you openly, naturally there's a reason. Get in. Would I smash my own signboard by harming you?"

Linghu Qiu considered that and found it reasonable enough. He also wanted to know who was trying to meet him so furtively. Still, he left himself a safeguard. He turned and signaled Hongfu to inform Hongxiu. If something happened, at least his own side would know how he had disappeared. Seeing this, Guan Fangyi did not urge him. She understood the caution. Half reclining against the carriage window, she idly chatted with him.

"Linghu, you haven't come to the Qi capital in several years, have you?"

Linghu Qiu kept glancing toward both ends of the alley and chuckled. "What difference does it make whether I come or not? It doesn't affect your business."

"You take the big jobs. Three years without a deal, then one deal feeds you for three years. Why would you care about my little business?"

"You flatter me." Linghu Qiu gave a faintly self-mocking reply.

At that point Hongfu returned and nodded to show everything had been arranged. Only then did master and maid board the carriage. The carriage swayed along. Guan Fangyi's eyes drifted over Hongfu. She blinked her bright eyes and giggled.

"Little Sister Hongfu grows prettier every time I see her. Twin sisters to left and right—Linghu really knows how to enjoy himself."

Hongfu remained expressionless and ignored her.

Linghu Qiu said, "You really don't have a gate on that mouth of yours. I think spring fever has struck you and you're craving a man."

Guan Fangyi lifted her sleeve to hide her mouth and giggled. "Men are good things for women. I'd be lying if I said I never wanted one. Unfortunately, my reputation has been rotten for years, so I've stopped expecting any respectable man to want me. But I've already made peace with it. With money in hand, why should I fear having no men? If I feel like it, I can change one every day, and they'll still have to coax me and keep me happy."

Linghu Qiu shook his head repeatedly. "Looking at you now, do you truly plan to spend your entire life like this in a secular capital?"

"What's wrong with it? I like this world of red dust. I like prosperity and bustle. I like dressing myself up until I'm dazzling and letting people admire me. What would be the point of a woman like me hiding in the mountains to cultivate quietly? No matter how beautifully I dressed, who would there be to admire it? Who would there be to see? I settled here and began making a living precisely because I fell in love with the prosperity of this place. If I can live this way for the rest of my life, I'll be satisfied."

Linghu Qiu fell silent briefly, then nodded. "There's nothing wrong with thinking that way. I hope you truly can live like this for the rest of your life. It's only that the world is full of disturbances, and you're living right in the middle of them. I hope there never comes a day when matters are no longer yours to decide."

"What an unlucky mouth!" Guan Fangyi gave him a coquettishly annoyed glare. "You just can't bear to see this old lady living well, can you?"

Then she asked, "Linghu, how did you end up mixed together with that Niu Youdao? I hear you even swore brotherhood with him, and now you're staying beside him through wind and rain. What sort of performance are you putting on?"

Hongfu glanced at Linghu Qiu. Linghu Qiu sighed bitterly inside. He had suffering he could not speak of. So he changed the subject.

"How much are you earning from this trip? Since I'm cooperating so nicely, shouldn't you split half with me?"

"Hardly anything. Only a hundred gold coins. If you really want to count every coin with me, fine, I'll give you half."

"Spare me. If someone could make you personally come pick me up for less than a thousand gold coins, I'll cut my head off."

Guan Fangyi playfully punched him on the shoulder.

"Stop making trouble. You won't even spare this little money of mine..."

The two teased one another until the carriage arrived outside a quiet garden.

There was no grand gatehouse, only a secluded garden entrance bearing the three characters "Fufang Garden."

An old man swept the ground outside. The carriage entered. Within, green shade spread everywhere, flowers and grasses grew luxuriantly, and small bridges crossed flowing water. The surroundings were quiet and elegant. The carriage stopped. The three disembarked.

Guan Fangyi's supple waist swayed as she led the way gracefully, bringing them to a solitary room whose doors and windows were tightly shut. She pushed open the door. The room was almost empty. There was only a tea table. A lean figure sat cross-legged on a cushion with his back to the entrance, drinking tea alone. It was Wei Chu, retainer of Prince Jin's residence. Guan Fangyi stepped forward with a smile.

"Mr. Wei, your guest is here."

Wei Chu looked back, swept one arm in a circle, and pointed to the cushion opposite the tea table, signaling Linghu Qiu to come sit. Linghu Qiu did not recognize him.

He slowly walked over and asked, "May I ask who you are?"

Wei Chu remained calm and silent. He merely picked up the teapot and poured tea for him. Guan Fangyi, standing nearby, gave an awkward smile and supplied the introduction.

"This is Mr. Wei Chu, from Prince Jin's residence."

Prince Jin's residence?

Linghu Qiu froze. What did someone from Prince Jin's residence want with him?

"You two talk. I won't disturb you." Guan Fangyi gave a slightly guilty curtsy, quickly withdrew, and closed the door behind her.

After pouring Linghu Qiu's tea, Wei Chu extended a hand.

"Please. I've long heard Brother Linghu's great name. Inviting you here so abruptly today was discourteous. I hope you won't take offense. My people are watching outside. Not a single word spoken between us today will leak out. Brother Linghu may speak freely."

Linghu Qiu steadied the teacup with one hand and cupped the other in thanks.

He cautiously asked, "Mr. Wei, why have you summoned me here? What guidance do you have?"

"I would not presume to offer guidance. I only want to know a few things and hope Brother Linghu can clear up my confusion."

Countless thoughts turned through Linghu Qiu's mind.

"What things?"

Wei Chu asked, "Yesterday, did Bu Xun, Chief Steward of the Inner Palace, and Princess Consort Yu both go to see Niu Youdao?"

Linghu Qiu's heart filled with uncertainty. After a brief silence, he nodded.

"Yes. That happened. The Chief Steward went during the day, and the princess consort went at night."

A smile appeared on Wei Chu's face. He seemed satisfied with the answer.

"What did they discuss with Niu Youdao?"

[End of Chapter 320]